One well known device for use in curling hair is a cuffing drum. The device comprises a cylindrical drum, and a cover or sleeve which is snap fit on the drum. In use the drum and sleeve are heated in a heating apparatus. When they have been heated, they are brought to the hair, the hair is curled around the drum, and the sleeve is fitted over the drum to retain the hair in the cuffed configuration. As the drum and sleeve gradually cool down, they warm the hair which then retains the curled configuration upon subsequent removal of the drum and sleeve.
There are a number of disadvantages with hair curling drums. The principal disadvantage is that the operation of curling the hair is laborious for the hairdresser, and lengthy for the person whose hair is being curled. Additionally the results may not always be as desired. These disadvantages arise because the drum and the sleeve cannot usually store sufficient heat to effect complete curling. Thus the hairdresser must remove the cooled drum and replace it with a heated drum, and this cycle of removal and replacement must be carried out repeatedly, which is very laborious for all parties concerned. Furthermore, during removal and replacement, some of the hairs which were curled around the drum being removed may escape being curled around the replacement drum, and vice versa. Additionally in the final cycle of operation the hair may become overcurled.
A second well-known device for use in curling hair is a curling iron. This device comprises a perforated barrel, a housing at one end of the barrel which serves firstly as a handle for the device, and secondly contains an electrically powered mechanism for generating a stream of hot air which is blown axially along the barrel, and a retaining finger extending from the housing along the length of the barrel. In operation, the curling iron is connected to a power supply by means of an electrical lead, is brought to the hair, the retaining finger is withdrawn from the barrel, the hair is curled around the barrel, the retaining finger is returned to its operational position to retain hair curled around the barrel, and the device is activated to blow hot air along the barrel and through its perforations so as to curl the hair. Hair cuffing irons however suffer from their own disadvantages. If a large number of curls are required, either a large number of curling irons must be used, which would be expensive and would require the person whose hair is being curled to bear the weight of all those irons, or alternatively a single iron must be moved sequentially from place to place in the person's hair, which is time consuming.